Intel Core i7-4960X Ivy Bridge-E Review

👤by Richard Weatherstone Comments 📅05-11-13
Product Snapshot

Despite the huge cost, the box exterior packaging is quite underwhelming. Smaller than your average SSD packaging, the Intel i7-4960X arrives in the typical Intel blue packaging which was also a slight disappointment as being an 'Extreme' chip we were hoping for a niche black box. We can only assume at this point that Intel will refresh the 4960X with a 4970X as they did with the Sandy-bridge versions.


The chip itself, from the exterior at least looks pretty much like any other LGA2011 socket compatible processor. The IHS is nickel coated copper and users would do well not to consider 'de-lidding' this processor as it is soldered to the silicon beneath and thus would like be destroyed if the procedure was attempted.


To the rear there are 6 less IC's (5) than are found on the component being replaced, the 3960X which has 11. The pin count does however remain identical to its predecessor.


Overall, we would have liked a little more exclusivity with this enthusiast grade CPU. While the money you spend generally goes into the product itself, we would have liked at least to have been given an accompanying cooling solution. Perhaps not Intel's own liquid cooling components which would add more to an already exasperated price but a simple air cooling design which would go some way to bulking out the product some and perhaps serving as a backup to a more advanced cooling design. Intel can however be forgiven for this omission as it is likely that a CPU such as this is very unlikely to be used with anything less than a very good custom built watercooling solution.

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